


All Things in Time

by rogueimperator



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens (2015), Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Complete, Crack Treated Seriously, F/M, Force Bond, Kylo Ren Redemption, Kylo Ren is a Mess, One-Shot, Please be gentle, Reylo - Freeform, Sickfic, and rey takes pity on him, but i guess not, first fic, force skype, i really meant for this to be crack, kylo has man flu
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-16
Updated: 2018-01-16
Packaged: 2019-03-05 18:27:36
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,445
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13393671
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rogueimperator/pseuds/rogueimperator
Summary: Another two days and nights went by. On the night of the third day he came back.Rey. Rey, please.What?Come sit with me. I promise you can't get sick if you visit through the force. Please.She blinked. That was incredibly straightforward of him, much more so than usual.You need to sleep.I can't. I haven't had a good night's sleep in years. Please.Rey sighed. She knew shouldn't, but she also got the feeling the feeling that this man hadn't had anyone take care of him in a very, very long time.





	All Things in Time

**Author's Note:**

> Hello! Here's the first thing I've cranked out after falling deep, deep down the Reylo rabbithole. It's been ages since I've written for fun and this is also my first SW fic, so please don't be too harsh re: any inconsistencies. I also wrote this back in December before I saw TLJ for the first time, so this takes place somewhere outside of the established chronology. Love love!!

It started without warning, on a calm day with a clear sky and no breeze. Rey clenched her jaw, willing the pain behind her eyes to go away. In time it did, and she thought no more of it. Then came the fatigue and muscle ache, and a few days later, his voice in the back of her head like a bad dream.

_Scavenger. Scavenger._

She closed her eyes, focusing on her nightly meditations. Ignoring the whiny tinge to his voice.

 _I know you can hear me. I can feel you trying to ignore me_.

She made no response. Merely redirected her attention to clearing her mind.

A hacking, full body cough came into her mind then, followed by chills.

_Rey come on. Please?_

She opened her eyes, staring at the stone wall across from her.

_What do you want, Ren?_

_I dunno._ Another cough.

_So why are you trying to talk to me? Are you planning on defecting any time soon?_

He snorted. _Kriff, no. I just like the attention._

She felt a wave of nausea come over him, and suddenly it clicked.

_Are you ill?_

He didn't respond for a few moments.

 _I am not sick, thank you very much_.

 _You just puked your guts up_. She responded matter-of-factly.

 _Happens all the time_.

She could have laughed, really _. I think you have the flu._

_I'm not sick!_

_Sure you aren't. Sure._

\--

The next day she could feel him cross over their bond into her mind, like he was slinking back to her, in defeat.

_I had to go to the med bay today._

_And?_

_Influenza._

Rey snickered. _Told you._

 _I wonder if I can get you sick using the force?_ He snapped back.

 _Go to sleep._ She caught herself smiling and shook her head.

 _It's not even dark yet here!_ He protested.

_Well go to sleep anyway._

She could sense him pouting. _Fine._

\--

He was quiet for the next two days. On the third one, as she was standing up from eating her breakfast, she felt him pushing at the edges of her mind. Asking to enter this time instead of barging ahead.

She didn't think being sick could make a man more polite.

She closed her eyes and let him in, leaning against the wall of her hut.

 _Rey._ His voice was a whisper in her head, hoarse and raw.

_You sound worse._

_Yeah_. She felt him cough, spit something up, and shiver. _Feel like kriffing shit._

Rey said nothing for a moment. _What did med bay tell you the other day?_

 _They told me I had the flu, what do you think?_ At least even sick he was still capable of being an ass.

Rey sighed. _Are you even capable of taking care of yourself, Ren?_

She felt him bristle at the question, but he said nothing, and he disappeared.

\--

Another two days and nights went by. On the night of the third day he came back.

_Rey. Rey, please._

_What?_

_Come sit with me. I promise you can't get sick if you visit through the force. Please._

She blinked. That was incredibly straightforward of him, much more so than usual.

_You need to sleep._

_I can't. I haven't had a good night's sleep in years. Please._

Rey sighed. She knew shouldn't, but she also got the feeling the feeling that this man hadn't had anyone take care of him in a very, very long time.

She closed her eyes and concentrated. When she opened them, she was standing in a dark and sparsely furnished bedroom. A single lamp glowed by the bedside, and she saw Kylo Ren, commander of the First Order and the Knights of Ren, curled up under a pile of dark blankets and pale as death.

He smiled weakly, and Rey moved forward to sit on the bed, tucking her legs under her. Kylo put his hand out and carefully laced her fingers into hers.

 _Thanks_ , he murmured to her.

She looked him over. Maker, he was so pallid. The scar across his face seemed even starker than before. A fine sheen of sweat made his high forehead gleam in the low light, and his eyes, when he opened them again, were glassy and distant.

Rey felt a stab of pity for this sick, lonely man.

"Have you eaten?" She asked, realizing too late she'd spoken aloud instead of just across the bond. Hopefully Luke wouldn't hear.

"Couldn't", he managed. She reached out and put her the back of his hand to his face. His skin burned under her touch, and she felt something-- was it anger? Concern? Fear?-- shoot through her like a bolt of lightning.

"I'll be fine," Kylo whispered to her. "Just stay with me a while."

He scooted towards her, and their bond went silent as he fell asleep with his hand wrapped in hers and his face close to her lap.

Rey watched him sleep for a while. He didn't roll over or shift, and if it wasn't for their bond combined with his chest rising and falling as he breathed, she might have been concerned that he'd died. She shouldn't be concerned, though, she told herself. Here was a man who had killed so many and ordered countless many more to their deaths. Had killed his own father, had kidnapped her and gave her the distinct feeling he wanted to assault her.

And yet. Yet. He wanted her to come here, and he just wanted company while he slept.

She sighed, resigning herself to her situation. As much as she hated to admit it, Ren was beginning to grow on her. She shifted, pulling her legs out from under her and stretching them out on the bed, and he moved so that his head was resting on her lap. She ran her hands through his hair, idly ghosting her fingertips over the curve of his ear with each pass.

 _Maker, how does he keep his hair so soft?_ She thought, more to herself than anything.

 _Coconut oil instead of conditioner,_ came the croaky response.

A tiny smile twitched at the corners of her mouth.

 _Back to sleep with you,_ she admonished gently.

_Mmmm okay._

She didn't know how long they stayed like this, but after what seemed like several hours she knew she had to go.

Carefully, she extricated herself from his grip. On some level, she hated that she had to leave him, but logically it was what had to be done. Besides, she would be foolish to think that something as small as this would convince him to defect once and for all.

She closed her eyes, breathed deeply. Opened them again and saw the faintest rays of light rising over the hills of Ach-To and the expansive grey sea.

 _Rey..._ she felt him wake, pining for her presence.

Fighting back the wave of emotions, she closed their bond and went about her day.

\--

It had been weeks since he'd heard from her. Since he'd been allowed into her mind. The bout of the flu had only lasted a day or two after her visit, something he attributed to his Force abilities.

He had dreamed of her every night since then.

Sometimes it was just her face. Staring into his, silent, judgemental. Other times he chased her through a field of tall grass, where she would wait for him at the edge of a dark forest before vanishing into the ether. Still other times he saw her again on Takodana, or back on Starkiller, fat flakes of snow sticking in her chestnut hair. Scared and shaking but still resolved to defeat him.

Now, he meditated on it. Asked Grandfather for advice. This particular evening, he was tired, exhausted really. Unable to focus on anything that was happening around him. She was starting to consume his waking hours as well as his dreaming ones.

He stalked down the hall to his quarters, stabbing the number pad with his index finger as he entered the passcode. The door clicked as it unlocked, and he slammed it shut behind him. It had been another unproductive day, and he'd almost taken Hux's head off when the general chastised him during a meeting.

He reached up and unfastened his helmet, pulling it off and shaking his hair free. He set it on the bedside table, then collapsed onto the mattress.

He reached out to her again-- tentatively, with no expectation of a response.

_Rey, are you there? Please._

That was smart, he supposed, because he only reached the walls she'd raised around her mind.

Kylo Ren sighed hugely, nostrils flaring. Any other time he would fly off in a rage, destroy something to make up for her silence.

Now, he simply laid there and closed his eyes.

Perhaps Grandfather would have an answer for him.

He stood up, reaching for the plain black brooch that fastened his cowled cloak in place. That came loose, and he folded the black swath of coarse wool on the bed. Next came his gloves, belt, surcoat. Then his boots, socks and his high-collared tunic. He was left barefoot in just his linen undershirt and pants.

He crossed to where a second bedroom would be if there was someone here to occupy it, the room where he kept Darth Vader's helmet and ashes.

The door swung open with a wave of his hand, and he closed it quietly behind him.

The room was dimly lit, with a two tiered pedestal in the center and a hard tile floor. Darth Vader's scorched and twisted helmet sat on the upper pedestal, cracked in the front from the heat of his grandfather's funeral pyre. A small black box sat on the lower pedestal, with an indent in the top where Kylo placed a thin stick of lit incense.

He had learned of the incense on some outer planet, when he and Hux had been tracking some ancient Sith relic he could no longer recall. The old woman who sold it to him told him that her people used it to commune with the dead. He'd bought two packs under cover of darkness. This was the very last of it.

The small room filled with a smokey, piney scent. It made his head light and his body heavy. He sat cross-legged in front of the altar, ankle bones grinding uncomfortably on the hard floor. Eyes closed, breaths deep and even. Emptying his mind of everything, even Rey.

He used the Force to reach out to Darth Vader's memory, and to his surprise felt something like a Force signature in response. He latched onto it, hoping this time he would receive the attachment he craved.

Unbidden, his eyes opened as a blinding white light filled the room. Kylo didn't know where it came from or what caused it. It filled the entirety of the space, erasing the boundaries of the room itself.

"Grandfather?" Kylo asked aloud. Usually he tried to communicate via the Force but this was entirely unusual.

"Grandfather, tell me what to do. Please, I'm so lost. I don't know what's happening anymore."

Hot tears streamed down his face. A warm breeze pushed his hair back and a deep voice came from somewhere inside the light.

 _BEN ORGANA-SOLO_ , it said.  _YOU CANNOT FIGHT WHAT HAS YET TO COME TO PASS, JUST AS YOU CANNOT CHANGE WHAT ALREADY HAS. GO, NOW, AND FIND IT._

The voice and the light left as suddenly as it had come, and the room was still and silent.

Kylo Ren was not a stupid man. Rash and temperamental sure, and certainly melodramatic, but far from stupid. He knew that he'd finally been able to reach his grandfather, and he knew what his grandfather was trying to tell him. The question now became what he was going to do next.

\--

Rey had been back at the Resistance base on D'Quar for a little less than two weeks. The first few days had been a blur; Finn was awake and healed and healthy, and more than excited to tell his dear friend about his blossoming relationship with star pilot Poe Dameron. General Organa had smiled in the way only a mother could, and wrapped her in a hug before she could even completely disembark the Millennium Falcon.

Now she had settled into a routine, peppered with missions here and there. It was nice, she thought, and it occurred to her one night as she flirted on the edge of sleep how long it had been since Kylo Ren had attempted to contact her. She thought she missed him, just a little.

She'd shrugged it off, rolling over and falling into deep and peaceful sleep.

Today started off no different. Breakfast with Finn and Poe, briefing meeting with Leia to discuss any upcoming missions or new intelligence, followed by more Jedi training until time for dinner.

Today, she was in the reconnaissance room with Leia when the sirens went off. A First Order craft had been spotted entering atmo above the base.

Rey followed Leia to the landing pad in front of the hangar. It seemed like everyone was out there, blasters drawn and tense for a fight. She spotted Poe and Finn not too far ahead of her.

The small craft landed, its hatch dropping open. A figure clad head to toe in black stepped out.

Rey went pale and felt her heart drop into her stomach. He wasn't wearing the mask.

"Hold your fire!" Leia shouted, one hand raised above her head.

Kylo Ren did not stop when he saw his mother, though when his eyes found Rey his step faltered briefly. She lowered her walls and sent him a thought for the first time in she didn't know how long.

_Why have you come here?_

He didn't respond but she could see his face was pained, sadness etched into each line around his mouth and the dark circles under his deep brown eyes.

He stopped just in front of Leia and dropped to his knees, large hands gripping the hem of her jacket, his head down.

"Mother," he rasped. "Mother, I am so, so sorry."

Leia reached out and placed a hand on the top of her son's head.

Rey watched as the older woman closed her eyes for a moment, a single tear trickling from the corner of her eye.

Her voice cracked when she gave the command. "Take him away."

It was a blur of movement then. A group of officers wrenched Ren away from his mother, and he went more willingly than Rey would have expected of him.

 _I had to_ , she heard him respond as one of the officers slammed him into the ground, jerking his arms behind his back and clapping his wrists in force-blocking cuffs.

\--

Rey felt dizzy. Kylo Ren-- no, not Kylo Ren, Ben Solo-- had come to the Resistance to defect.

She didn't understand it. If this was his plan, why hadn't he told her? He certainly would have been able to, and she might have been able to spare him the drama of his entrance this morning.

Leia had ordered him to house arrest pending a Resistance council court martial, and had placed him in a small apartment down the hall from her own quarters. Rey presumed it was so she could keep an eye on her son, but Maker only knew what the real reason was.

Rey found herself walking down that hall with no real understanding of why she was there, and followed the growing strength of his Force signature until she felt it pulsing behind a heavy wooden door.

She knocked, more timidly than she would have liked.

The door swung open before her.

She entered the room and it closed behind her, lock clicking softly.

"I was wondering how long it was going to take you to find me," Kylo (Ben?) said softly. She still wasn't entirely sure what to call him now.

He was sitting in a chair by the window, staring into the green foliage beyond. His layers of black clothing had been taken from him, and now he was garbed in a plain beige shirt and brown pants. She wasn't surprised that he seemed more approachable this way.

He grimaced as he stood, bracing himself against the wall. "Your friends weren't exactly kind to me when they arrested me. I suppose Mother is the only reason they haven't taken my head as a trophy yet."

Rey blinked. He was so calm, it was unnerving.

"Ren, what the hell are you doing here?" She shouted, once she'd remembered how to form words and sentences.

He crossed the small apartment in three strides and sat on the end of the bed. He stared at her, and she noted that his hair had gotten longer, now near his shoulders where it had once just brushed his chin.

"I... I wish I could say," he admitted after a time, eyes now trained on the floor. "I was just… lost, I suppose. I still am, I think. And… I missed you. I hadn’t… People don’t generally want to be there for me when I need them. Plus, with the bond… I don’t know, Rey. I’m here now, and I know logically I’ll have to pay for what I’ve done. That’s all that should matter, right?”

It had to be a trick, Rey decided. A ruse to fool the Resistance into giving up their location.

"I didn’t come here to trick you." He answered her thoughts, and she realized she'd almost forgotten about their bond, it had been silent for so long.

"So you're here... Because I was nice to you while you were sick?" She felt her face twist in shock and disgust

Ren looked up at her, with those sad Solo eyes. “You know there’s more to it than just that."

Rey barged out of the room.

\--

She came back a couple days later.

He was sitting by the window again.

"Going to bolt on me again this time?" He asked. He didn't turn his head to look at her.

"No. I'm not. I wanted to talk."

"Then talk."

"I wanted to talk about... us." The last word came out a whisper. He turned his head and regarded her briefly. Capture had not dimmed the way he regarded her, like both a prize to be won and a force to be reckoned with.

"What about us?" He turned his head back to the window, resting his face on his hand. His face was impassive, high cheekbones and dark eyes shadowed in the late afternoon sunlight.

"Am I really the reason you came here?"

He crossed the room to where she stood just inside the doorway. Even barefoot and not dressed in black, he still cut an imposing figure.

Rey stood up straighter, clenched her hands into fists.

He raised one hand to caress her face, and she saw his eyes flit to glance at her lips.

"Among other things, yes," he said, and crushed his mouth onto hers.

\--

She wasn't sure how long she had been kissing him for, just that she craved the soft pressure of his full lips and the way his hands roamed her body and held her to him at the same time.

"I missed you so much," he murmured. "I thought you were upset with me."

Rey ran her hands through his dark hair, threading her fingers into it and pulling him closer.

"I didn't know what to do either." She whispered, breaking the kiss. "It was easier just to stay apart after... After that night."

They had fallen back onto his bed, and he circled his arms around her, clinging to her.

"I dreamed about you every night, and then, with Grandfather... " He trailed off. Rey looked at him for a moment, and a flush of pink colored his cheeks.

"Please tell me that's not as gross and it sounds." She quipped.

"No, it's nothing like that." The corners of his mouth twitched up briefly. He rolled her over so that her back was facing him, and curled himself around her, burying his face in her hair. She smelled like engine oil and rocket fuel, and he didn’t want to ever leave this room, with her. "I wish I could explain it better, Rey, I really do. It was… like a force ghost, but not quite."

Rey clasped his hand, pressed it to her lips for a moment.

"You can tell me later. For now just stay here with me."

  
He snaked his arms tighter around her, and something in him felt right for the first time in a very long time. _As if I’d want to be anywhere else._

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading!! Please comment and feed my desire for external validation! I have another fic forthcoming as well, this time a college AU, so if you liked this be on the lookout for that! And last but not least many many thanks to my dear friend tumblr user roguedawn, who has graciously put up with my ramblings for the last few weeks.


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